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REPORT 



TO 



CAMP BEAUREGARD 

No.l30,U.S.C.V. 




v^ 



BY 



W. O. HART 

Retiring Commandant, January 12, 1910 



.a 8 A/ 5" 



MR. W. 0. HART OF CAMP BEAUREGARD 
No. 130. U. S. C. V. 




First-Lieutenant Commander, 1906 
Commandant, 1907 
Historian, 1908 
Commandant, 1909 
Second-Lieutanent Cqirimiinder, 1910 



REPORT READ AT ANNUAL REUNION 
AND BANQUET. 



New Orleans, January 12, 1910. 
To the Members of CiDiip Beauregard No. 130, V . S. C. V.: 

Dear Comrades— At the close of my second term I think I can truthfully 
say that during the past twelve months the Camp has earned the right to retain 
the distinction first given to it by Comrade Thos. M. Owen, then our Commander- 
in-Chief, and now Historian-General of the U. S. C. V. Confederation, when, at the 
Reunion of 1907, he spoke of Camp Beauregard as "the banner Camp of the 
Confederation. " . . 

During the past year our meetings and the other events in which we partici- 
pated and arranged have been unusually interesting, and, I think, have reflected 
credit upon the Camp, and have honored us in honoring the memory of those, 
living and dead, connected with the cause of the Confederate soldier. 

At our February meeting an address was made by Prof. Pierce Butler, of 
Newcomb College, in this city (son of a distinguished Confederate soldier), on 
Judah P. Benjamin, the great jurist and first Secretary of War in the Cabinet 
of President Davis. 

In March, Judge Albert Voorhies, the Nestor of the Louisiana Bar, read a 
paper describing " Shreveport, the Confederate Calpital of Louisiana," which 
contained many hitherto little known instances of the later sixties in this State. 
Judge Voorhies, after the fall of New Orleans, went with the Supreme Court, of 
which he was a member, to Shreveport, where it held its sessions, and where the 
Governors of Louisiana maintained the capital of the State. 

April was to us a very busy month. On April 6th, the anniversary of the 
Battle of Shiloh, your Commandant made an address to the inmates of the 
Soldiers' Home on the invitation of Fitz Hugh Lee Chapter, U. D. C, which 
annually entertains the Veterans on that day. The address was made on the 
Battle of Shiloh, and as part thereof I read Ftresident Davis' account of that 
great battle. On the same evening I made short addresses before Stonewall 
Jackson Chapter No. 1135, U. D. C, and New Orleans Cliapter No. 72, U. D. C. 
The annual reunion of the Army of Tennessee, Camp No. 2, U. C. V., was also 
held on April 6th. Many of our members participated in the parade and banquet, 
at which Comrade R. F. Green and your Commandant made addresses. 

On April 10th we presented to the Soldiers ' Home the old torpedo-boat which 
for so many years lay on the bank of Bayou St. John at Spanish Fort, and 
which, at the suggestion of Mrs. Paul Israel, a prominent member of New Or- 
leans Chapter No. 72, IT. D. C, and always a great worker for the Soldier's' 
Home, was obtained by us for the Home. The boat was removed to the Home 
and' placed in position upon a substantial pedestal through thu efforts of Com- 
rade Gordon S. Levy, and bears a suitably-inscribed plate. In connection with 
the presentation we gave to the Veterans an Easter festival and egg-hunt, with 
a most interesting and varied entertainment, and the occasion was greeted by 
the largest number of visitors that has ever attended any entertainment at the 
Soldiers' Home before or since. 

On Ajtril 12th we presented to Memorial Hall a pedestal for the bust of 
General Beauregard which we had given the Hall the previous year, the pedestal 
being of wood from Charleston harbor, and identified with the first shot fired 



in defense of the South on April 12th, 1861, and with General Beauregard, and 
which was procured and arranged in position principally by Comrade T. S. 
McChesney, and upon which is a copper plato giving a full history thereof. The 
presentation of the pedestal was accompanied with proper ceremonies. 

On April 14th, at our regular meeting. Mr. A. D. Henriques, of the Army 
of Tennessee, Camp No. 2, U. C. V., delivered an address on Capt. Chas, A. Dreux, 
the first Louisiana officer killed in the war, and, without disparagement to any 
other address made at Memorial Hall, 1 may say without fear of successful con- 
tradiction that none has equaled this effort on the part of Mr. Henriques, who 
personally knew Capt. Dreux, and therefore spoke from his recollection and from 
his love for that gallant and brave soldier. 

My report, heretofore read to you and printed and distributed, gives an 
account of our attendance upon the Memphis Eeunion in June, followed by our 
visit to Yicksburg to attend the unveiling of the statue of Gen. Stephen D. Lee, 
and in connection therewith 1 may say tliat we were the only organized Camp of 
Sons of Veterans that attended this unveiling, an event, to my mind, one of 
the greatest in the history of the conntry, when we reflect that the first statue 
to be placed in the Vicksburg National Military Park, under the control of the 
United States Government, was that of a Confederate soldier. In connection 
with my visits to the Park then and previously I proposed to Capt. RigVr tlie 
superintendent, that, if the United States Government would accept it, I would 
cause to be erected a small monument or marker to the command of my father 
(the late Toby Hart), the Eighth Louisiana Battalion of Heavy Artillery, in 
which he was Captain of Company E. The proposition was accepted. The monu- 
ment has been placed in position, and is the first given to the Park by a private 
individual, and at the November meeting of the Army of Tennessee, of which my 
father was a member, I presented to tlie Camp a picture of this monument and a 
large portrait of my father, in connection with which appropriate remarks were 
made by Capt. I.«wis Guion, Capt. James Dinkins and Gen. J. W. Gaines. Since 
then two other monuments have been given to represent Louisiana commands, 
and an effort is now being made by popular subscription and appropriations by 
the City of New Orleans and the different parishes to obtain funds so that a 
similar monument or marker may be placed for eveiy Louisiana command. 

On October 22nd, at the formal dedication of the Beauregard School, in 
this city, probably the finest public school building in the South, and a monu- 
ment in itself, our Camp presented to the school a replica of the bust of Gen. 
Beauregard, before referred to. At our request, the formal presentation was 
made in our behalf by FIrof. Alcee Fortier, President of the Louisiana Historical 
Society, who in his address paid a glowing tribute to Gen. Beauregard and re- 
lated some of the most interesting events in his military career. Under the 
direction of Comrade E. A. Christy, the architect of the school, the bust has 
been properly placed where it will be an incentive and an inspiration to the 
children attending the school. Another replica of the bust has been recently 
purchased by the Louisiana Museum, and is now on exhibition there. 

At our Decemlier meeting the proceedings were particularly interesting. Mr. 
W. E. Dodsworth, a well-known citizen of this city, who as boy and man was 
for many years in the employ of the late Gen. John B. Hooo, and occupied 
towards him the most intimate relations, read a paper on the life of the General 
after the war, dealing principally with his home life and human side, and so 
valuable was the paper that it was published in full in the New Orleans Picayune 
next day. At the same time Comrade H. C. Elder, Historian of the Camj>, read 
a most interesting description of Gen. Hood as a soldier. D'uring the year 1 
succeeded in obtaining and placing in Memorial Hall three small lifelike busts 
of Gen. Beauregard, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston and Gen. Hood, and that of Gen. 
Hood was placed in full view of the audience during the reading of the papers. 
At that meeting, also, we were given the history of the first Confederate battle- 
flag by Major C. McRae Selpii. who superintended the making of same at Rich- 
mond. 



Gift 
Author 

(ftraan) 



At the December entertainment given to the Veterans by the Soldiers' Home 
Circle of King's Daughters, who so frequently appear at the Howe to cheer ana 
brighten the Veterans, I presented to the Home, in fulfillment of a promise made 
something over a year ago, a picture of Gen. Fitz Hugh Lee, which I had been 
looking for during that time, and only recently obtained. 

During the year we were presented with a large and handsomely-framed 
picture of "Lee and His Generals." 

On January 4, 1910, in the name of the Camp, I presented to the Louisiana 
State University, at Baton Eouge, a picture of Admiral Eaphuel Semmes, the 
great sea warrior of the Confederacy. The picture, which is a topy of the one 
given to Memorial Hall on September 27th last, the one hundredth anniversary 
of the birth of Admiral Semmes, was given to the University in recognition of 
the fact that for several years he had been an instructor there, a fact not gen- 
erally known, and which I only ascertained when the announcement of the cere- 
monies attending the fiftieth anniversary of the University was maae. 

Through the efforts of Col. L. A. Toombs, son .of a gallant Confederate sol- 
dier, the State Rifle Range in Jefferson Parish, near the city, was named "Beaure- 
gard Rifle Range ' ' in honor of Gen. Beauregard and out of compliment to 
Camp Beauregard; and at its dedication on November 28th I presented to the 
Range, in the name of the Camp, a picture of Gen. Beauregard, pronounced by 
his son, Judge R. T. Beauregard, a member of our Camp, to be a speaking like- 
ness, the presentation being made through Miss Lelia Lee Riddell, one of our 
Maids of Honor, who appeared in her uniform as Sergeant of the Beauregara 
Cadets, the military company of young ladies, which was such a feature of the 
Reunion of 1906 in this city. 

At the bestowal of crosses by the different Chapters of the U. D. C. in the 
City of New Orleans throughout the year our Camp has always been represented, 
as it was at the Semmes anniversary celebration before mentioned. 

At the Christmas-tree celebration on December 28th, under the auspices of 
the Louisiana Division, U. D. C, many of our comrades were on hand, and on 
behalf of the Camp I presented to the Home a story of Scott's Cavalry Brigade, 
entitled "A Cavalryman's Reminiscenses of the Civil War," by Mr. Howell 
Carter, a member of the brigade, and whose son is a member of our Camp. 

At the annual convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy or 
this State in May, members of Camp Beauregard attended ail the meetings, 
and at the opening ceremonies an address was made by your Commandant, and 
on another day the convention was addressed by Governor J. Y. Sanders, our com- 
rade, and under the auspices of the Camp a reception was tendered the members 
of the convention by the Country Club, which was very largely attended', 
the Camp providing a special car for the accommodation pi the ladles. 

The official family of Camp Beauregard, organized for the Memphis Re- 
union, have appeared with us and assisted us in many of the events above men- 
tioned. At our April meeting Miss Alice Costa, one of our Maids of Honor, read 
a poem written to the memory of Capt. Dreux at the time of his burial in this 
citj', and at our December meeting read for the first time a poem on Gen. Hood. 
The bust of Gen. Beauregard at the Beauregard School was unveiled by our 
Sponsor, Miss Coralie Reneaud ; the picture of Gen. Beauregard at the Ri^e 
Range was unveiled by Miss Rosemond Birtel, one of our Maids of Honor, and 
the picture of Admiral Semmes at Baton Rouge was unveiled by Mrs. H. R. 
M^Leod, our Matron of Honor. At the Easter entertainment at the Soldier'=i' 
Home we formally adopted Miss Nellie Ready, the talented young violinist who 
has created so much enthusiasm wherever she plays, both here and elsewhere, 
and at the reception given to our Sponsor and Maids of Honor on the eve of 
the Memphis Reunion she was made the Mascot of the Camp. She has appeared 
and played for us, and, at our request, at many meetings at Memorial Hall, 
entertainments at the Soldiers' Home, at the dedication exercises at the Beaure- 
gard School and elsewhere. 

3 



The Confederate Choir, under the auspices of our Camp, gave an entertain- 
ment at the Soldiers' Home on March 17th, and have sung at our meetings and 
ether of the events above enumerated. 

The Scrap-Book which I began when first elected Comniandvint of the Camp 
in January, 1907, in order to preserve newspaper articles relating to Confederate 
history, has now reached its seventh volume, and I shall keep it up as heretofore. 
The volumes are placed as completed in Memorial Hall, accessible to all, and, 
because they contain matter which cannot be obtained elsewhere, as time goes 
on will become invaluable. 

A very pleasant incident of our December meeting was the presentation to 
the Camp of the flag won by Dyer's Military School Cadets at the Eeunion of 
1906, the gift having been made by Mr. R. McC. Perrin, formerly military in- 
structor of the school, which, upon 'giving up its military department, gave the 
flag to him, and he in turn gave it to our Camp, and we have placed it in 
Memorial Hall. 

During the year there was married a daughter of our comrade, Judge Beaure- 
gard, and granddaughter of Gen. Beauregard, and, as we did when her sister 
was married two years ago, we sent to her, with our best wishes, a basket of 
flowers, which was arranged and prepared on our behalf by Miss K. T. Childress, 
of New Orleans Chapter, U. D. C. 

At the last meeting of the Beauregard Monument Association your Com- 
mandant was appointed a member of the Committee on Design, he having pre- 
viously been elected a member of the Executive Committee. Your Commandant 
has also been elected a member of the Jefferson Davis Monument Association, and 
has been appointed a member of the Monument Committee of the U. S. C. V. 
Confederation. The Army of Tennessee, Camp No. 2, U. C. V., has bestowed on 
our Camp the greatest possible honor by electing Comrade Ealston F. Green its 
Assistant Secretary. 

The song "Louisiana," which we first brought out at our tribute to Gen. 
Beauregard, January 12, 1907, is increasing in popularity, not only in the State, 
but in other parts of the United States ; and at my request it was sunk just after 
the unveiling of the picture of Admiral Semmes at Baton Eouge. 

During the past year I have been particularly fortunate in the visitors that 
I was enabled to take to the Soldiers ' Home. On January 8th the Home was 
visited by the Executive Committee of the American Bar Association and the 
members of their families, representing visitors from all parts of the North; 
and on that occasion Mr. Walter George Smith, of Philadelphia, whose father 
was an officer in an Ohio regihient at the Battle of Shiloh, gave the Veterans a 
most patriotic and inspiring address. On February 12th, when President Taft, 
then President-elect, was in the city, I induced him and his party to visit the 
Home, and I do not believe any visitor to that institution ever received a more 
hearty welcome or more thoroughly enjoyed himself, and the address he made 
on that occasion will remain in the memory of the Veterans and all who heard 
it as long as life lasts. On February 21st I took out to the Home the entire 
Rose Marching Club, of Milwaukee, accompanied by the entire Choctaw March- 
ing Club, of New Orleans, with the magnificent band brought from Milwaukee, 
which, during the visit, played Southern and jjatriotic airs, and Mr. Rose, a 
Union soldier, addressed the Veterans in a most liappy vein, and, as many of the 
visitors had been in the same battles with our Veterans, several hours were spent, 
when old war scenes were recalled. On November 13th Governor E. S. Draper, 
of Massachusetts, and his party, including Gen. J. H. Taylor, of Boston, visited 
the Home at my suggestion, accompanied by Governor J. Y. Sanders, a member 
of our Camp, and the addresses made by tlie two Governors and by Gen. Taylor 
were most beautiful and patriotic. In connection with the visit the Massachusetts 
party presented $250 to the Home, and subsequently, at my s.iggestion, there 
was added to this over $50, half the surplus of which the committee in charge 
in this city had after paying expenses. Gen. Taylor during the war had been 



stationed in New Orleans. He then came as a foe ; this time he came as a 
friend, and no friend was better received, nor did anyone have a visit more appre- 
ciated, and immediately after his address the official badge of Camp Beauregard 
vras presented to him by me and pinned on his coat by our Sponsor, Miss Eenaud, 
while "Louisiana" was being sung by Mrs. J. J. Ritayik (formerly Miss Cecile 
Feeney), one of our Maids of Honor to the Shreveport and Memphis Reunions, 
and leader of the Louisiana Confederate Choir. To the automobile races in 
November I was enabled to invite all the Veterans of the Home through the 
courtesy of Mr. T. C. Campbell, president of the New Orleans Automobile Club. 

It is a source of great regret that our membership, instead of increasing, 
is decreasing, as we had to drop so many members this year for nonpayment of 
dues. I can only repeat what I have so often said — that we ought to have five 
thousand members in our Camp, as there is the material in New Orleans for many 
more than that number. Unless we are true to the memory of the past, we 
cannot be true to ourselves ; and there is no better way by which we can honor 
the memory of our fathers and grandfathers who served in the War between the 
States than by becoming members of Camp Beauregard and keeping their memory 
green, reciting the history of their valorous deeds, and cheering and assisting in 
their declining years the few survivors of that great struggle. 

My thanks are due to the other officers of the Camp for the great assistance 
I have received from them during the past year. Comrade J. J. Prowell, First 
Lieutenant-Commander; Comrade B. P. Sullivan, Second Lieutenant-commander, 
Comrade G. K. Eenaud, (Adjutant; Comrade E. F. Green, Treasurer; Comrade W. 
J. iSnow, Quartermaster, and Comrade H. C. Elder, Historian, have always shown 
a due and proper appreciation of the duties incumbent upon them in their re- 
spective offices, and have assisted the Commandant in every way possible in fur- 
thering the interest of the Camp, its w^ork and its members. I also desire to thank 
the members of the various committees, both the standing committees of the Camp 
and the special committees that I have appointed from time to time, for their 
close attention to the details of the matters intrusted to them; and I also desire 
to thank the members of the Camp whom I have appointed to represent it at the 
different functions given by other Confederate organizations, at every one of 
which affairs I know we have been well represented. To Comrade J. J. Prowell 
am I specially indebted for taking charge of the Camp during my frequent 
absences from the city. 

The picture of General Evans, Comman^ler-in-Chief, U. C. V., which I pre- 
sent to the Camp to-night, was sent to me by him, together with his letters, which 
you will hear read. 

The beautiful painting of the four Confederate flags, also presented to- 
night, was sent to me by Mrs. E. W. Gray, of Eoanoke, Va., who is a familiar 
figure at all of the reunions, whose husband was a distinguished Confederate sur- 
geon, identified at different times with Louisiana commands, and there will be 
read to you a history of the flags written by her. 



EPITAPH TO GENERAL ALBERT SYDNEY JOHNSTON. 

General Albert Syduey Johnston is buried in New OrleAns, in Metairie 
Cemetery, in the tomb of the Army of Tennessee, Camp No. 2, U. C. V., which is 
surmounted by a magnificent equestrian statue of the General, inside the tomO 
is his epitaph, written by the late John Dimitry, of the Army of Tennessee, 
which has been pronounced by all who have seen or read it to be the finest tribute 
of the kind in the world: 



IN MEMORIAM. 

By John D. Dimitry. 

Behind this stone is laid for a season 

Albert Sydney Johnston, 

A General in the Army of the Confederate Stati-s, 

Who fell at Shiloh, Tennessee, on the sixth day of April, A. D. eighteen hundred 

and sixty-two, 

A man tried in many high offices and critical enterprises, and found faithful in all. 

His life was one long sacrifice of interest to conscience; 

And even that life, on a woeful Sabbath, 

Did he yield at a holocaust at his country's need. 

Not wholly understood was he while he lived. 

But in his death his greatness stands confessed 

In a people 's tears. 

Eesolute, moderate, clear of envy, yet not wanting 

In that fine ambition which makes men great and pure. 

In his honor, impregnable; 

In his simplicity, sublime. 

No country e'er had a truer son, no cause a nobler champion; 

No people a bolder defender, no principle a purer victom. 

Than the dead soldier who sleeps here! 

The cause for which he perished is lost — 

The people for whom he fought are crushed — 

The hopes in which he trusted are shattered — 

The flag he loved guides no more the charging lines — 

But his fame, consigned to the keeping of that time which, 

Happily, is not so much the tomb of virtue as its shrine, 

Shall, in the years to come, fire modest worth to noble ends. 

In honor now our great Captain rests. 

A bereaved people mourn him ; 

Three Commonwealths proudly claim him; 

And history shall cherish him 

Among those choicer spirits who, holding 

Their conscience unmixed' with blame. 

Have been, in all conjectures, true to themselves, their people and their God. 



LOUISIANA. 



Land of the brave — aye, gallant and bold — 

Louisiana. 
Home of the lads with hearts good as gold, 

Louisiana. 
Unequaled in beauty the great wide world o 'er, 
The names of thy sons reach from shore to shore- 
Yea, the names " of thy sons reach from shore to shore- 
Louisiana. 

Blest are the mortals whose feet touch thy strand, 

Louisiana. 
Home of my childhood, imperial land, 

Louisiana. 
Thy rich, fertile soil is forever renowned, 
Thy forests in numerous trees still abound. 
Thy melodious songs, unsurpassed, aye, in sound, 

Louisiana. 

Mild are the winters that visit thy shore, 

Louisiana. 
Beautiful birds through thy balmy air soar, 

Louisiana. 
Leader of all, bright and glorious land, 
Pray tell me the country which with thee can stand, 
For surely thy fields have been touched by God 's hand, 

Ijouisiana. 



The words of this song, written by Mr. Charles Rupp, were published in the 
New Orleans Picayune on February 10, 1907, and were preserved by Mr. W. O. 
Hart, then Commandant of Camp Beauregard, for future use. This use came 
on April 12, 1907, when Camp Beauregard paid a tribute to Gen. Beauregard 
on the anniversary of the day on which was fired the first shot in defense of the 
South, on which occasion Memorial Hall was filled as it never was before or since. 

Embraced in the programme on that occasion was a song for each Southern 
State, the history of Gen. Beauregard 's life, showing that he was connected in 
some way with the military operations in every State of the South, including 
Maryland, Missouri and Kentucky. 

The words were set to music by Miss Theresa Cannon Buckley, who pre- 
sided at the piano on that occasion, when the song was sung by Miss Amelie 
Nores, who represented Louisiana, and who was the Sponsor for Camp Beaure- 
gard at the Shreveport Eeunion in 1907. 

Since that time the song has been sung at every reunion where Louisiana 
was represented — at Eichmond, Birmingham, Memphis, Shreveport and Monroe. 
It was also sung in Vicksburg on the occasion of the unveiling of the statue to 
General Stephen D. Lee last June. It is sung at almost every Confederate enter- 
tainment, and wherever the Louisiana Confederate Choir appears it is generally 
the first on the programme, and is always a great favoritQ, particularly of the 
veterans at the Soldiers ' Home. 

The reading of it at the Convention of the United States League of Local 
Building and Loan Associations at Chicago in 1907 helped to stampede that 
convention and to secure for New Orleans the convention of 1908, during which 
the song was on the official programme. 

At the annual session of the Trans-Mississippi Congress held in San Francisco 
in October, 1908, the song followed Mr. Hart 's remarks placing in nomination 



New Orleans for the Congress of 1909, where it was greeted with great en- 
thusiasm and applause. 

It was sung with great success at the Waterways Convention in Memphis in 
1907. and at the Coniinercial Law League Conventions at Mackinac Island in 1908 
and Xarragansett Pier in 1909, and is often sung throughout the State at social 
gatherings, banquets, meetings and convention?, and at many similar events out- 
side the State when Louisianians are present. During the meMorlal exercises in 
the House of Representatives in Wbshington on May 10, 1908, out of respect to 
the memory of Gen. Adolph Meyer, deceased member of Congress from this State, 
Judge Johin T. Watkins made the words of "Louisiana" part of his address, and 
thereby they have become part of the permanent records of the nation. 

When President Taft was at the Soldiers' Home in February, 1909, it was 
sung, and when he was at the Barracks on October 31, 1909, it was played by 
the band, and Lieutenant-Colonel Foote, commanding the troops, was so pleased 
with the music that at his request Mr. Hart gave him a copy of tlie band score 
to take with liim when he went to his far-off post in Oregon, so that he may have 
the song played there to remind him of the happy days he spent in Louisiana. 

While not officially adopted as such, the song has practically become the 
school song of the State, and is on the official programme for the celebration by 
the schools of Louisiana Day; and, though since it first came out several other 
Louisiana songs have appeared, they have not supplanted it, but die soon after 
their appearance, while this song is destined to live forever. 

When Governor Sanders was inaugurated at Baton Eouge in 1908 the song 
was the musical feature of the occasion ; and when the Rose Marching Club of 
Milwaukee arrived in New Orleans for the Mardi Gras festivities of 1908 they 
were met at the depot by the Choctaw Marching Club, of New Orleans, singing 
"Louisiana." It was snng during the semi-centennial exercises of the Louisiana 
State University in January, 1910. It always appears on the programme of the 
reunions of Camp Beauregard and of the members of the Constitutional Conven- 
tion of 1898. It was sung at the dedication of the Beauregard School, and at 
the dedication of other schools, and at various presentations of portraits to the 
schools. 

It was on the programme of the great Sunday-school Convention held in 
New Orleans in Marcli, 1910, and the last great event at which it was sung was 
at the ceremonies commemorative of the fiftieth anniversary of the unveiling of 
the monument to Henry Clay in New Orleans, which was celebrated April 12, 1910. 



(From the New Orleans Picayune, February 20, 1910, and From the New Orleans 
Daily States, March SO, 1910.) 

WARTIME POEM. 



When Capt. WL L. McLean, a distinguished Confederate veteran, formerly of 
Memphis, Tenn., now of San Antonio. Tex., and who will probably soon settle 
in Pass Christian, Miss., recently visited Memorial Hall at the request of Mr. 
W. O. Hart, of Camp Beauregard, he very much entertained those present by 
giving the history of and reciting the poem entitled "My Love and I." 

My love reposes on a rosewood frame, 

A bunk have T; 
A couch of feathery down fills uji the same. 

Mine straw, but dry. 
She sinks to sleep with scarce a sigh. 
With aching eyes I watch the hours go by. 

'8 



My love her dainty dinner takes in state, 

And so do I (?) ; 
The richest viands flank her silver plate, 

Coarse grub have I. 
Pure wine she sips at ease, her thirst to slake, 
I pump mine from Erie's limpid lake. 

My love has all the world at will to roam, 

Three acres I ! 
She goes abroad, or, better, stays at home; 

So cannot I! 
Bright angels guard 'round her couch at night, 
A ' Yank ' with loaded musket keeps me in sight ! 

A thousand weary miles now stretch between 

My love and I. 
To her this winter night, cold, calm, serene, 

I waft a sigh, 
And hope with all my earnestness of soul 
To-morrow 's mail may bring me my parole ! 

There 's hope ahead ! We '11 some day meet again, 

My love and I ; 
We '11 drive away from all trace of sorrow then. 

Her lovelit eye. 
With all my many sorrows then beguile, 
And keep this wayward ' Eeb ' from Johnson 's Isle. 



This poem was written by George McKnight, a well-known newspaper writer 
who wTOte under the nom de phtme of ' ' Asa Hartz. ' ' He was a fellow-prisoner 
with Captain McLeon on Johnson's Island, Ohio, and went in the war from 
North Carolina, but after the war settled in New Orleans, where he died. In 
New Orleans his charming personality, great wit and wonderfiil descriptive powers 
made him popular with all. 

After the fall of Mobile some of those connected with one of the papers 
there reached Gainesville, Ala., with some of their equipment, which they had 
succeeded in getting out just before the capture, and were given a room by Mrs. 
Toby Hart, the mother of Mr. W. O. Hart, where they set up their press and 
published a paper whenever they could get anything to print it on, finally using 
wallpaper, of which a considerable supply was found in the stores of the little 
town. Mr. Wi O. Hart remembers distinctly when this poem was published in 
that paper. 

Captain McLean is one of the survivors of the original party who, while 
prisoners at Johnson's Island, Ohio, lying at night on the ground, saw the con- 
stellation of the Southern Cross in the heavens and conceived the idea of the 
Southern Cross drill to while away their weary hours of imprisonment. Long 
afterwards the drill was revived in Memphis by veterans and young ladies, and 
was a feature of the 1901 reunion there and of the 1903 reunion in New Orleans. 
At the time of the reunion of 1906, when Mr. Hart was in charge of the amuse- 
ment features, he thought a great attraction would be the Southern Cross drill, 
and he took up with Captain McLean the idea of bringing the drill team to 
New Orleans. Captain McLean said, however, that the matter had been aban- 
doned for several years, but, at the earnest solicitation of Mr. Hart, he revived 
it, and a party of thirty-six — sixteen veterans, sixteen young ladies and four 



chaperons — came to New Orleans and opened the grand ball in the presence of 
nearly twentv thousand people (with ten thousand more tning to get in), which 
filled' the immense auditorium builditig on the site of the new courthouse, and no 
feature of that great reunion was more admired than the drill. The effect of 
coming to New Orleans was to cause the party to form a permanent organization, 
and the drill was given with great success at Kichmond, Birmingham and Mem- 
phis, where thirty-two couples took part, and the same number will go to Mobile. 

'Mrs. P. M." Weisiger, well known in Confederate circles in Memphis and 
throughout the South, is now the president of the team, which is the original 
drill team. 



(Fr07n the Neic Orleans Picayune, February 25, 1910.) 
THE CONFEDERATE SEAL. 



Tyler's Treasures Pass Into the Possession of Mr. W. O. Hart. 



The copy of the seal of the Confederate States of America which Mr. W. O. 
Hart, Past Commandant of Camp Beauregard No. 130, TJ. S. C V., presented on 
Tuesday night to the Washington Artillery, has quite an interesting history. 

As is well known, the seal was adopted by the Congress of the Confederate 
States on Washington's birthday, February 22, 1862, and where the original 
seal now is is unknown, but it was most probably destroyed at the end of the war. 

Very soon after the seal was adopted Mr. E. A. Tyler, for many years a 
well-known jeweler on Canal Street, procured a copy, and from it had a die made, 
from which he made copies of the seal, and then destroyed the original copy and 
the die, so that no more could be made. Before they were distributed or other- 
wise disposed of New Orleans was captured, and Mr. Tyler hid the seals, know- 
ing what his fate would be if they were discovered by General Butler, and not 
wishing to destroy them, knowing that in time, no matter what the result of the 
war, they would be of great historical value; and it was not until some years 
after the war that be brought them out, when a few were sold or given away, and 
the others still remained, partially, at least, hidden away in his store. 

Last year, when the owner of the store was giving up business and the seals 
were discovered, Mr. Hart was informed thereof by Mr. John Stumf, manager of 
the business, and was given an opportunity to purchase them, which he did, and 
the one given to the Washington Artillery is one of these. 

There are a good many of these copies owned in New Orleans, but very few 
of their possessors know the foregoing facts. The beautiful stained-glass window 
in Memorial Hall is a copy of the seal of the Confederate States, placed there 
three years ago by the Junior Confederate Memorial Association, and, though an 
arrangement perfected by Camp Beauregard, is lighted whenever there is a meet- 
ing in the hall. The center of the seal is a copy of the George Washington statue 
in Eichmond, Va., and so the seal was a peculiarly appropriate gift to the Wash- 
ington Artillery, connected as it is by name with the Father of his Country and J)y 
service with the Confederate States. 



10 




CAPT. TOPY HART, 

From a jihoto^raph taken at Gainsville, Ala., just before the 
close of the year 1864. 



' LOUISIAHA 

EIGHTH BATTAUOH 

H£AVY AnriLLeRY 

MAJOR F.H.OCDEM 



COMPANY A 
CAmWRCRAMDFRe 

. COMPANY B^^^ 

CAPTAIN R.C.BARR9^ 

COMPANY E ^ 

CAPTAIN TOBY HART 

COMPANY r 

CAPTAIN TNMcCRORY 

SERVED CUN8 IN THE CITY 



MARCH Z9- JULY 4 i669 





Monument erected in Vicksburg Military Park by Mr. W. 0. Hart, to his father. 

Captain Toby Hart, Company " E," 8th Louisiana 

Batallion, Heavy Artillery, 



(From the New Orleans Picayune, February 27, 1910.) 
LOUISIANA'S MONUMENT AT THE VICKSBURG MILITARY PARK. 



Jnst before the Confederate Eeunion of 1909, which was followed by the 
unveiling of the monument to Gen. Stephen D. Lee in the \'ieksburg Military 
Park, Mr. W, O. Hart, Commandant of Camp Beauregard Xo. 130, U. S. C. V., 
visited Vicksburg so as to make arrangements there for the Camp Beauregard 
party. In driving through the park with Capt. W. T. Eigby, ihe superintendent 
thereof, he was struck with the fact that, while there were many small monu- 
ments in the park marking the places where the Mississippi commands were sta- 
tioned, there was nothing representing Louisiana. He stated to Captain Rigby 
that, if the Government would allow it, and Captain Rigby would recommend it 
as superintendent, he would cause to be erected, at his own expense, a monument 
in the park to the Louisiana Eighth Battalion of Heavy Artillery, of which his 
father, the late Mr. Toby Hart, was captain of Company E. Captain Rigby at 
once took the matter up with the War Department, addressing a letter to the 
Secretary of War on June 22d, as follows: 

* ' The Commission has the honor to recommend approval of the proposed 
site, as marked herewith, of a monument in the park for the Eighth Louisiana 
Heavy Artillery Battalion, to be placed and paid for by Mr. W. O. Hart, son of 
Capt. Toby Hart, Company E of that battalion. 

' ' The Commission also has the honor to recommend approval of the proposed 
inscription, herewith inclosed, for the monument for the Eighth Louisiana Heavy 
Artillery Battalion, to be placed in the park and paid for by Mr. W. O. Hart, 
son of Capt. Toby Hart, of that battalion. The monument will consist of a 
granite die, to which a bronze tablet, twenty-six by forty inches in size and 
bearing the inscription, will be fastened by expansion bolts. The Commission 
recommends approval of the proposed design for this monument without the 
formality of submitting drawings of it." 

On June 26th the Assistant Secretary of War returned the papers to Captain 
Eigby with favorable recommendations, and the mcnument is now erected and is 
in place in Louisiana Circle, as shown in the accompanying picture. 

The monument is of granite, about six feet high, surfaced in rock face, ex- 
cept a beveled-face finish in six-coat work, upon which is placed a bronze tablet, 
twenty-six by forty inches, as shown in the picture, and giving the names of 
Major F. N. Ogdeu, who commanded the battalion; the names of the captains of 
Companies A, B, E and F, and the legend : ' * Served guns in the city on the river 
front of the line, March 29 to July 4, 1863. ' ' 

This is the first monument ever erected in the park by a private individual, 
and is the forerunner of several others erected and being erected by patriotic 
Louisianians, and it is hoped that, through the efforts of Captain Rigby and 
Capt. Lewis Guion and Mr. A. L. Slack, of Tallulah, and others, in a short time 
there will be a monument to every Louisiana command in the park, so that, 
when -the grand Louisiana monument is built by the State in the center of Louisi- 
ana Circle, the most commanding position in the park, it will be supplemented 
by small monuments, as is the cast- of Mississippi. The point where Capt. Toby 
Hart 's command planted the first gun in Vicksburg has been marked by the 
United States Government with an iron tablet, and is at what is now the corner 
of Bridge and Pearl Streets in Vicksburg. Captain Hart was fortunate in not 
surrendering at Vicksburg, having been ordered out on special service to Selma, 
Ala., just before the siege. Subsequently he resumed active service, and for a 
short time was provost marshal at Gainesville, Ala., and was paroled at the close 
of the war at Meridian, Miss. Mr. Wl O. Hart, who was four years old when 
the war broke out, remembers a little of the fighting at Vicksburg, and while 
living at Gainesville, Ala., frequently saw Confederate and Federal troops pass- 
ing through that little town. Capt. Toby Hart was a member of the Army of 

11 



Tennessee, Camp Xo. 2, U. ('. V.. and at its last meeting Mr. W. 0. Hart pre- 
sented the Camp with a large picture of his father in liis uniform, eopied from 
a photograph taken in 1864. 

At his request Captain Guion mmle the presentation to the Camp in these 
words : 

"Mr. President and Comrades — The very agreeable request has been made 
to me by Mr. W. O. Hart that I should, fir him, present to this Camp, and to be 
preserved in this Memorial Hall, a picture of his father. Capt. Toby Hart, and 
also a photograph of the monument in the Vieksburg National Military Park 
erected in memory of the Eighth Louisiana Battalion Heavy Artillery, com- 
- mandod by Lieutenant-Colonel Fred N. Ogden. Capt. Toby Hart, our late mem- 
ber and comrade, was no laggard in entering the Confederate Army, being en- 
rolled in the ranks of the defenders of the South at the very beginning of the 
war. He was assigned to duty at the forts below the City of New Orleans, and 
later organized Company E of the Eighth Louisiana Battalion Heavy Artillery. 

"This company planted its first gun on the river front at Vicksburg, near 
a railroad depot in the lower part of the city, and there is an iron tablet erected 
by the United States Government stating the fact. The battalion served through- 
out the Vicksburg campaign, but before the siege Captain Hart was detailed for 
special service at Selma, Ala., and was not present at the surrender. Rejoining 
his command after duty at Gainesville, Ala., he later surrendered with them at 
Meridian, Miss., at the close of the war. 

"This picture of Captain Hart shows him in his full military uniform, and 
is copied from a photograph of him taken in 1861 at Gainesville, Ala. 

' ' Those of you who had the pleasure of personally knowing our late com- 
rade appreciated his kindly, genial nature. All of us are glad that the filial 
piety of Mr. W. O. Hart has given us the opportunity of having the picture of 
Captain Hart hang on the walls of this Memorial Hall, and I now, on behalf of 
his son, one of the Sons of Veterans of our Camp, present this picture to you. 

"Realizing that the State of Louisiana, in common with her sister-States of 
the South, had been, and would be, slow in marking their appreciation of the 
services of their soldiers in the siege of Vicksburg, in which Louisiana figured 
so conspicuously in the numbers and and achievements of her soldiers, Mr. W. O. 
Hart has put up in the Vicksburg National Park a commemorative monument, 
the first from Loviisiana, in honor of his father 's old command. Inspired, doubt- 
less, by this proper act, Mr. Gaiennie, of St. Louis, has placed a memorial in the 
park for the Third Louisiana Infantry, and Mr. Honore Dv.gas has directed one 
to be placed in honor of the Twenty-eighth Louisiana Infantry. 

"Let this good work go on, so that each regiment and t-ach battery may 
have marked the position held by it during the great siege of Vicksburg. We 
can congratulate ourselves that this honorable duty has been so auspiciously in- 
augurated. ' ' 

As Captain Guion finished, Capt. James Dinkins, who, for the Camp, ac- 
cepted the picture, and also a picture of the monument, which was presented at 
tlie same time, made the following address : 

"I am moved by a feeling of pride and pleasure to express my appreciation, 
and I believe the appreciation and thanks of every member of the Association 
of the Army of Tennessee, for the gift of this portrait of our old comrade and 
friend, Capt. Toby Hart. 

' ' It may be that I feel more than the average interest in the gift because I 
knew Toby Hart well and intimately for many years. I had many pleasant busi- 
ness relations with him, and frequently met him civilly. 

"During the great reunion of 1903, when we were struggling to complete 
the arrangements, I went to Toby Hart and stated that we needed a large number 
of signs and other decorations, and asked him to construct them for us. 

"He met our best expectations in doing so, and, when I offered to pay for 
them, he presented us a receipt for $90. I could never persuade him to accept 
a cent. 



12 



' ' I never met Toby Hart without feeling better afterwards. Brave and gen- 
erous, he was a high type of .soldier and gentleman. 

* ' 1 am proud, therefore, to have his portrait in the hall, and I am glad to 
see his son uisplay attection and pride in nis father's hist3ry and memories, and 
I hope his example will be follov\ed by other Sons of Veterans. 

' ' Let us drop a tear to the memory of our comrade and friend, Capt. Toby 
Hart, and rejoice that he was one of us." 

The pictures were accepted in a few appropriate words for the" hall by Gen. 
J. W. Gaines, the custodian thereof, who had a long personal and intimate ac- 
quaintance with Capt. Toby Hart. 



(From New Orleans Daily States, January 4, 1910.) 
CONFEDERATE FLAGS AND THEIR HISTORY. 



At the annual meeting of Camp Beauregard No. 130, U. S. C. V., which will 
be held on January 12, 1910, there will be presented to the Camp a beautiful 
watercolor painting of the four Confederate tlags painted by a daughter of Mrs. 
E. W. Cray, of Roanoke, Va., and by her sent to Mr. W. 0. Hart, Commandant 
of the Camp, who will make the presentation. Mrs. Cray, who is a familiar 
figure at most of the Confederate reunions, is the vsddow of a Confederate sur- 
geon who, during the nar, was identified with some of the Louisiana commands 
and served from start to tinisa. In connection with the picture Mrs. Gray sends 
to Mr. Hart the following very interesting history of the Confederate flags: 

' * The first flag, the Stars and Bars, was raised at Montgomery, the pro- 
visional capital of the Confederacy. The flag at that time had only seven stars 
on it, representing South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, 
Florida and Texas. This is the flag adopted by the United Daughters of the 
Confederacy. It never saw defeat, but only the glory of victory. After the 
battle of Manassas the St. Andrew 's cross flag was designed by General Beaure- 
gard, and it became the battle flag, as the 'Stars and Bars' at a distance looked 
so much like the ' Stars and Stripes. ' This battle flag is the veterans ' flag, and 
was carried in every battle after Manassas. It has on it thirteen stars, which 
represented the eleven States that seceded and Missouri and Iventucky, which, 
although claimed by the North, did secede, and their acts of secession were 
ratified by the Confederate Government and they were represented in the Con- 
federate Congress by Senators and Eepresentatives. The third flag — the battle 
flag on a white field — was used mostly by the navy, and was adopted as the na- 
tional flag May 1, 1863. When hanging limp against the staff it looked so much 
like a flag of truce that a red end was placed at the bottom of the white field, 
and this style was adopted March 4, 1865. The last flag was never used. The 
United States troops captured or found a number in the capitol building at 
Richmond, Va., at the time of the evaciiation. 

' ' These flags are now only a memory, but ' love makes memory eternal, ' and 
the memory of the sacred, blood-stained flags aised and carried by our boys, the 
flower of the manhood of the Southland, is like an ancient coin — useless now; 
but the impress of the campaign of suffering and endurance they tell us is there 
to remain, and can never be torn awav or worn out." 



13 




Loving Cup presented to Mr. W. 0. Hart by Camp Beauregard 

when retiring from his first term as Commandant, 

January 8, 1908. 



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